Devices are known which employ an air jet to hold a ball in an elevated position. Such a device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,195, issued Jan. 14, 1986, in the name of R. H. McClure, et al, in which a ball rides on a jet of air emanating upwardly from a nozzle. The purpose of these devices is to enable a player to practice without a second player. Moreover, unlike simply hitting a ball against a wall or hitting a ball attached to a tether string, these devices are intended to support the ball in a relatively stationary position.
In practice, however, it has been found that these prior known devices do not support a ball in a stable, mid-air position. By simply employing a straight flowthrough nozzle through which an air jet passes, the ball is elevated to the level at which the lift provided by the air jet is equal to the weight of the ball. However, the only support which is provided to the ball is directly upward, which makes the ball highly susceptible to movement and instability caused by atmospheric wind and the like.